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Posts Tagged ‘Addiction’

My genes tell me that smokin’ and drinkin’ are sins

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Image by muffintoptn via Flickr Humans are spiritual creatures – there’s no denyin’.  How & why we got this way is one of THE BIG questions of all time.  Since our genome shapes the development of our brain and its interaction with our culture, its not a surprise to see that, from time to time, [...]

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Indulging my inner rat over a few drinks

Posted in ADH1C, Amygdala, CDH13, Caudate nucleus, GATA4, Striatum, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image by Scrunchleface via Flickr A recent GWAS study identified the 3′ region of the liver- (not brain) expressed PECR gene (rs7590720(G) and rs1344694(T)) on chromosome 2 as a risk factor for alcohol dependency.  These results, as reported by Treutlein et al., in “Genome-wide Association Study of Alcohol Dependence” were based on a population of [...]

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Interview with Dr. Christina Barr

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia Many thanks to Dr. Christina S. Barr from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism-Laboratory of Clinical and Translational Studies, National Institutes of Health Animal Center for taking the time to comment on her team’s recent publication, “Functional CRH variation increases stress-induced alcohol consumption in primates” [doi:10.1073/pnas.0902863106] which [...]

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rs1044396 mediates effects of nicotine self-medication

Posted in CHRNA4, acetylcholine, tagged , , , on June 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

It has been reported that cigarettes can impart some calm and clarity from racing thoughts and mental fog. Patients with schizophrenia, who often experience cognitive disorganization, are 2-4 times more likely than the general population to smoke, and also seem to prefer stronger brands of cigarettes. This is not surprising since nicotine can raise levels [...]

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GPR6 teaches B.F. Skinner that actions have consequences

Posted in G-protein, GPR6, Striatum, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia I’m not sure what Skinner would have thought, but its clear that, nowadays, mechanisms of behavior can be understood in terms of dynamic changes in neural systems and, furthermore, that individual differences in these neural dynamics are heavily regulated by genetic variation. Consider the recent paper by Lobo et al., “Genetic control [...]

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Dopamine genes dissociate neural mechanisms for complex decision making

Posted in COMT, DARPP32, DRD2, Dopamine, tagged , , on September 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia To go out tonight or stay home? Hillary or Barack? Curly fries or onion rings? How do I make these important choices and why will others decide differently? Although there are many reasons for not stressing-out and over-thinking one’s decisions (except for really important choices like curly fry vs. onion ring), it [...]

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“Jerry, my boys can swim!” now pass the lighter

Posted in CABYR, acetylcholine, tagged , , on August 7, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

In a recent free and open BMC report on gene expression in non-smokers vs. current smokers vs. quitters, Chari and colleagues identify a class of genes whose expression “appears to be permanently altered despite prolonged smoking cessation.” Frighteningly, a number of genes encoding DNA repair enzymes are irreversibly altered … definitely not good to mutagenize [...]

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“Personalized genetic” vs. “the” patch ?

Posted in acetylcholine, tagged , , on July 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia Uhl and colleagues present a genome-wide search for SNPs that distinguish smokers (nicotine dependence) – and perhaps more importantly – successful smoking quitters, in their recent article in the free and open-access journal BioMed Central. As pointed out in the article, this work is a step closer to personalized “efforts to match [...]

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Brain based algorithms and personalized medicine

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on May 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia I much enjoyed Helen Mayberg’s October 13th podcast, “Paths to Recovery in Major Depression: Insights from Functional Neuroimaging” hosted by Science & the City, the webzine of the NY Academy of Science. One comment that stuck with me was her mention of ‘brain-based algorithms’ for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. [...]

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